'Modern-day Rocky' Jamie Varner ready to open some eyes at UFC on FOX 4

LOS ANGELES – Jamie Varner has been to the top of the mountain before. And to hear him tell it, he didn’t handle it very well.

The former WEC lightweight champion struggled down the end with that promotion before it merged with the UFC, and it was more than just a matter of losses he believes got him a pink slip rather than an invite to the big dance in the octagon.

“Humble in victory, gracious in defeat” is not something Varner understood then. It took hitting the bottom for him to understand his own desire to get back to the top – and appreciate it more the second time around.

Varner (20-6-1- MMA, 2-1 UFC) on Saturday meets Joe Lauzon (21-7 MMA, 8-4 UFC) on the main card of UFC on FOX 4, which takes place at Staples Center in Los Angeles and airs live on FOX at 8 p.m. ET (5 p.m. PT). Like his May “Upset of the Year” candidate TKO win over Edson Barboza, the fight with Lauzon is one Varner took on short notice.

It’s also a fight that Varner can appreciate a little more since just a year ago, he was training for yet another fight on the regional circuit after being sent packing from Zuffa following an 0-3-1 stretch to end his career in the WEC.

“I lost last September in a regional show that no one’s ever heard of,” Varner said Wednesday of his loss to recent TUF hopeful Dakota Cochrane at Titan 20. “I shouldn’t be here. I shouldn’t be fighting on Fox. I shouldn’t have beat Edson Barboza. But I’m here to open some eyes and inspire some people.

“This is my modern-day Rocky story right here. This is how I’m going to build my legacy. When other people said no, I said yes. I’m here to fight, and I’m not here to be just another player in the lightweight division.”

After his loss to Cochrane, Varner picked up a pair of stoppage wins for XFC before getting the late call to fight Barboza. And as a massive underdog, he took it to the previously unbeaten Brazilian in the standup game, getting a first-round TKO. Varner wants to open some eyes against Lauzon, but he already started opening them against Barboza at UFC 146.

Varner said there’s no pressure on him against Lauzon, just like there was no pressure on him against Barboza, simply because no one expects him to come in with the deck stacked against him, short notice and all, and pull off the upset – even if the oddsmakers have his fight against Lauzon much closer to even.

“It’s a great opportunity and I’m happy to be here. But for me, this is fun – no pressure,” Varner said. “It doesn’t matter if there’s one camera on the octagon and it goes into one home or 100 cameras and it goes into half a billion homes. I’m going to go fight the same way. You put a guy in front of me and my training’s going to take over.”

Against Lauzon, Varner believes he’s facing an opponent vastly more diverse than his reputation. The book on Lauzon seems to be that he’s a submission wizard, and that’s about it. Lauzon even has acknowledged that’s what most think of him. But Varner has looked deeper and he knows he has more in front of him than simply not getting in position to be submitted.

“People give him a lot of credit for his submissions, but they underestimate his striking,” Varner said. “Watch the Melvin Guillard fight. He nailed Melvin Guillard with a left hook, dropped him, then took his back and finished him. He sets up these submissions with the hard shots. He hits hard. He’s good everywhere. This is going to be one of those fights I have to be on my toes in every position, and I think it’s going to be a fight for the fans, to be honest.”

A win over Lauzon would have Varner surging, to be certain. It would be a complete turnaround from the days when, as he said, he simply forgot how to win.

“It feels like life,” Varner told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com). “Life is full of ups and downs. Every single person has hit that low in their life, and they’ve also hit that high. Life is a fight, and fighting’s life. It’s just crazy how everything works out. But with hard work and determination and just honestly believing in myself, the sky’s the limit with what I can do.”

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